International. Representatives of the nations of the world gathered in Paris for the meeting that will result in a new universal agreement on climate change, knowing that there has already been an almost universal national response, with climate action plans to achieve long-term challenges.
More than 150 Heads of State and Government came to Le Bourget, the venue of the conference, to give their public support to the meeting. This is the largest gathering of leaders to ever attend a United Nations event on the same day.
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said at the opening ceremony that the eyes of millions of people around the world are on the meeting of government representatives in Paris, not only figuratively but literally:
You have the opportunity, indeed, you have a responsibility, to reach an agreement that makes it possible to achieve national climate change goals, that makes possible the necessary support for the developing world and that catalyzes the ambition and action of all in an increasing way.
Ms Figueres said this year has been a turning point and that after many years of hard work, the world is finally seeing that it is irreversible to move towards a low-carbon and resilient future.
This turning point is extraordinary, but the task is not finished. It is you who have, on the one hand, to capture these advances and establish the unequivocal trajectory forward with a clear destination, agreed objectives and a predictable timetable that responds to the demands of science and the urgency of the challenge.
Ahead of COP21, 184 countries covering almost 95% of global greenhouse gas emissions have already submitted their national climate action plans to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). These commitments constitute a good basis, but they are not sufficient for the international agreement to keep the increase in the global average temperature below 2 degrees Celsius.
